Living with a painful UTI? You may be surprised by how much you can do at home to relieve your UTI symptoms.

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In fact, some remedies don’t require a prescription — and they can be carried out right at home. From drinking lots of water to replenishing good bacteria with probiotics, these home remedies may help ease your agonizing UTI symptoms:

Get your fill of water. One of the first thing doctors will tell you to do when you have a urinary tract infection is to drink plenty of water. Drinking water helps flush away the bacteria and puts you on the right track for recovery.

How much should you drink? Aim for half of your body weight in ounces of water, up to 80 ounces a day, says Holly Lucille, ND, a naturopathic physician in private practice in West Hollywood, Calif. and author of Creating and Maintaining Balance: A Woman’s Guide to Safe, Natural Hormone Health. If you weigh 140 pounds, that means you should try to get 70 ounces of water a day.

Sip cranberry juice or take cranberry supplements. Cranberry juice also helps to flush away bacteria and keeps them from sticking to the bladder wall, so it can be effective for UTI prevention. Be sure to choose the unsweetened juice, however, because sugar adds nothing but calories.

Dr. Lucille tells her patients to drink 16 to 32 ounces of unsweetened cranberry juice a day — or to take 400 milligrams of cranberry extract in supplement formeach day.

Load up on vitamin C. Vitamin C makes your urine more acidic, which fights bacteria in your urinary tract. If you have an active UTI, taking vitamin C supplements may help.

Blast bad bacteria with good bacteria. Yogurt contains probiotics, which is the good bacteria that helps to keep bad bacteria that can cause UTIs at bay, says Kandis Rivers, MD, a urologist at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Mich. It’s always a good idea to eat yogurt regularly, but it’s particularly important when you’re taking an antibiotic for UTI treatment, which can wipe out your body’s natural good bacteria. You can find yogurt with live active cultures that can do the job or take probiotic supplements in pill form, Dr. Rivers says.

Soothe the pain with heat. The inflammation and irritation from UTIs cause burning, pressure, and pain around your pubic area, Rivers says. Applying a heating pad can help soothe the area. Keep the heat setting low, and limit it to 15 minutes at a time to avoi burns.

Ban the burn with baking soda. If painful, burning urination is a problem for you during a UTI, it may help to drink half of a teaspoon baking soda mixed with a glass of water.

Cut out irritants. Things like caffeine, alcohol, spicy food, nicotine, carbonated drinks, and artificial sweeteners can irritate your bladder further and make it hard for your body to heal. Focus on healthy foods, such as high-fiber carbohydrates and healthy fats like olive oil, which are good for your digestive health, Lucille says.

Go ahead and empty your bladder again. Every time you empty your bladder — even if it’s just a small amount — you rid it of some of the bacteria that’s causing the infection. So keep making those bathroom runs, Rivers says.

Use herbal remedies. You may find some relief from taking the herb urva ursi, which works as an anti-inflammatory. In addition, the herbs goldenseal and Oregon grape root can help your body fight E. coli, a common bacteria that causes UTIs. However, be sure to tell your doctor about any herbs you’re taking, because side effects can sometimes be serious.

Whether it’s with cranberries or herbs, using home remedies to fight UTIs can help put your back on the road to recovery.

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